Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Still, at the heart of the problem is regulatory laxity — a fragmented structure that allows for misbehavior and breaches.
Tales of sadness and lament have lurked in the azure waters of the Philippines, stories of avoidable sea and inter-island shipping disasters, oftentimes caused by the deadly cocktail of bad weather, overloading, and the apathy or sheer incompetence of authorities tasked to enforce maritime regulations.
Lives of innocent people had been lost again and again and many more would be sacrificed unless drastic actions are taken by the government and players in the maritime industry, big and small. The sinking of the MV Princess Aya last 29 July is just the latest heartbreaking story.
The tragedy reflects the failure of authorities, including the Philippine Coast Guard, to prevent a disaster just hours after super typhoon “Egay” had supposedly left the Philippine Area of Responsibility and storm warnings had been lifted already. As we grieve the loss of at least 27 lives, including women and children, one question remains unanswered: Could this tragedy have been avoided?
MV Princess Aya, a flimsy, rickety motor banca with a capacity of 30 passengers, harbored a dark secret between its outriggers. It was overcrowded with roughly 70 persons and sorely without the appropriate number of life vests. It’s not enough that PCG personnel who were supposed to check every vessel, including the Aya, before departure had been suspended. When investigations had been wrapped up, there is no tidying up this mess, like it’s business as usual again, and off to the next tragedy.
Princess Aya’s story, however, is only one stanza in an elegy that has plagued Philippine waters for decades. Other disasters in maritime history have given witness to a recurring refrain — a macabre dance involving overloading, terrible weather, dubious seamanship, and the failure of authorities to intervene.
In 1987, the MV Doña Paz — overloaded and pushed well past its designed capacity — collided with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait in what would be, up to this point at least, the deadliest maritime accident in Philippine history. A shocking 4,386 people were killed.
In 2013, a typhoon sank the MV Asia Star, taking 86 lives with it. Again, the Asia Star was just a depressing reiteration of a refrain, sagging under the strain of an excessive number of passengers and tons of cargo and exceeding all reasonable limits of safety and practicality.
These stories and many others like them have unfolded with a familiar rhythm, a story of avoidable accidents, of lives sacrificed on the altar of neglect, and of agencies entrusted with protecting lives but failing to do so.
We demand responsibility and accountability from the very institutions that have apparently turned a blind eye once more to maritime shenanigans like the failure to check passenger manifests against the load and passenger capacities of vessels. When lives are at stake, people in authority carry the burden of responsibility; when lives are lost, those in government cannot be allowed to escape culpability.
At the very least, the Princess Aya tragedy and those before it should spur introspection and reform, a reckoning of the health of the country’s inter-island shipping business. The sector, which once served as one of the pillars of our economy, has been suffering for decades from modernization erosion, inefficiency, costly operations, and safety issues.
The country’s inter-island industry harbors a tired fleet with an average age of 30 years, with the lack of investment both by the government and the private sector driving the sector into rough waters. A shortage of modern ships and a lack of safety procedures have been endangering the safety of passengers and personnel.
Still, at the heart of the problem is regulatory laxity — a fragmented structure that allows for misbehavior and breaches. The industry flounders in the absence of consistent regulatory oversight, leaving lives adrift in treacherous seas.
Safety is not an option; it entails an unflinching commitment to the lives of our citizens and the development of our country. The modernization of the inter-island transportation business should not be a pipe dream; it is a pressing requirement.
The sea does not wait for us to steer our ships forward; it demands action right now, or it demands lives as payment for continuing apathy. Let’s sink this into our collective brains: There’s no going around the need to investing in modern ships, strengthening safety rules, and coordinating our efforts to traverse this sea of difficulties, this storm of neglect.
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Credit belongs to: tribune.net.ph
